Changes from plenary report to adopted text

AddedArticle 187 Payment

Added1. Payment shall be made in cash or by any other means with similar discharging effect, including by adjustment of a credit balance, in accordance with national legislation.

Added2. Payment may be made by a third person instead of the debtor.

Added3. The debtor may in any case pay all or part of the amount of import or export duty without awaiting expiry of the period he or she has been granted for payment.

AddedArticle 188 Deferment of payment

AddedThe customs authorities shall, upon application by the person concerned and upon provision of a guarantee, authorise to defer the payment of the duty payable in any of the following ways:

Added(a) separately in respect of each amount of import or export duty entered in the accounts in accordance with Article 184(1), or Article 184(7);

Added(b) globally in respect of all amounts of import or export duty entered in the accounts in accordance with Article 184(1) during a period fixed by the customs authorities and not exceeding 31 days;

Added(c) globally in respect of all amounts of import or export duty forming a single entry in accordance with Article 184(2), (3) and (4).

AddedThe customs authorities, when authorising to defer the payment of the duty payable as referred to in paragraph 1, shall not require the provision of a guarantee where the applicant is a Trust and Check trader authorised to have a guarantee waiver in accordance with Article 176(3). [Am. 205]

AddedArticle 189 Periods for which payment is deferred

Added1. The period for which payment is deferred under Article 188 shall be 30 days.

Added2. Where payment is deferred in accordance with Article 188, point (a), the period shall begin on the day following that on which the customs debt is notified to the debtor.

Added3. Where payment is deferred in accordance with Article 188, point (b), the period shall begin on the day following that on which the aggregation period ends. It shall be reduced by the number of days corresponding to half the number of days covered by the aggregation period.

Added4. Where payment is deferred in accordance with Article 188, point (c), the period shall begin on the day following the end of the period fixed for release of the goods in question. It shall be reduced by the number of days corresponding to half the number of days covered by the period concerned.

Added5. Where the number of days in the periods referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 is an odd number, the number of days to be deducted from the 30-day period pursuant to those paragraphs shall be equal to half the next lowest even number.

Added6. Where the periods referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 are weeks, Member States may provide that the amount of import or export duty in respect of which payment has been deferred is to be paid on the Friday of the fourth week following the week in question at the latest.

AddedIf those periods are months, Member States may provide that the amount of import or export duty in respect of which payment has been deferred is to be paid by the 16th day of the month following the month in question. Those periods may not be extended even if the end of the period falls on a public holiday.

AddedArticle 190 Other payment facilities

Added1. The customs authorities may grant the debtor payment facilities other than deferred payment on condition that a guarantee is provided.

Added2. Where facilities are granted pursuant to paragraph 1, credit interest shall be charged on the amount of import or export duty.

AddedFor a Member State whose currency is the euro, the rate of credit interest shall be equal to the interest rate as published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, which the European Central Bank applied to its main refinancing operations, on the first day of the month in which the due date fell, increased by one percentage point.

AddedFor a Member State whose currency is not the euro, the rate of credit interest shall be equal to the rate applied on the first day of the month in question by the National Central Bank for its main refinancing operations, increased by one percentage point, or, for a Member State for which the National Central Bank rate is not available, the most equivalent rate applied on the first day of the month in question on the Member State’s money market, increased by one percentage point.

Added3. The customs authorities may refrain from requiring a guarantee or from charging credit interest where it is established, on the basis of a documented assessment of the situation of the debtor, that this would create serious economic or social difficulties.

Added4. The customs authorities shall refrain from charging credit interest where the amount for each recovery action is less than EUR 10.

AddedArticle 191 Enforcement of payment

AddedWhere the amount of import or export duty payable has not been paid within the prescribed period, the customs authorities shall secure payment of that amount by all means available to them under the law of the Member State concerned.

AddedArticle 192 Interest on arrears

Added1. Interest on arrears shall be charged on the amount of import or export duty from the date of expiry of the prescribed period until the date of payment.

AddedFor a Member State whose currency is the euro, the rate of interest on arrears shall be equal to the interest rate as published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, which the European Central Bank applied to its main refinancing operations, on the first day of the month in which the due date fell, increased by two percentage points.

AddedFor a Member State whose currency is not the euro, the rate of interest on arrears shall be equal to the rate applied on the first day of the month in question by the National Central Bank for its main refinancing operations, increased by two percentage points, or, for a Member State for which the National Central Bank rate is not available, the most equivalent rate applied on the first day of the month in question on the Member State's money market, increased by two percentage points.

Added2. Where the customs debt is incurred on the basis of Article 161 or Article 164, or where the notification of the customs debt results from a post-release control, interest on arrears shall be charged over and above the amount of import or export duty, from the date on which the customs debt was incurred until the date of its notification.

AddedThe rate of interest on arrears shall be set in accordance with paragraph 1.

Added3. The customs authorities may refrain from charging interest on arrears where it is established, on the basis of a documented assessment of the situation of the debtor, that to charge it would create serious economic or social difficulties.

Added4. The customs authorities shall refrain from charging interest on arrears where the amount for each recovery action is less than EUR 10.

AddedSection 3 Repayment and remission

AddedArticle 193 Repayment and remission

Added1. Subject to the conditions laid down in this Section, the customs authorities shall repay or remit amounts of import or export duty on any of the following grounds:

Added(a) overcharged amounts of import or export duty;

Added(b) defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract;

Added(c) error by the competent authorities;

Added(d) equity;

Added(e) invalidation of the data on the basis of which the customs debt was established for the corresponding goods or, where applicable, of the corresponding customs declaration.

Added2. The customs authorities shall repay or remit the amount of import or export duty referred to in paragraph 1 where it is EUR 10 or more, except where the person concerned requests the repayment or remission of a lower amount.

Added3. Where the customs authorities consider that repayment or remission should be granted on the basis of Articles 196 and 197, the Member State concerned shall transmit the file to the Commission for decision in any of the following cases:

Added(a) where the customs authorities consider that the special circumstances are the result of the Commission failing in its obligations;

Added(b) where the customs authorities consider that the Commission committed an error within the meaning of Article 196;

Added(c) where the circumstances of the case relate to the findings of a Union investigation carried out under Regulation (EC) No 515/97, or under any other Union legislation or any agreement concluded by the Union with countries or groups of countries in which provision is made for carrying out such Union investigations;

Added(d) where the amount for which the person concerned may be liable in respect of one or more import or export operations equals or exceeds EUR 500 000 as a result of an error or special circumstances.

AddedNotwithstanding the first subparagraph, files shall not be transmitted in either of the following situations:

Added(a) where the Commission has already adopted a decision on a case involving comparable issues of fact and of law;

Added(b) where the Commission is already considering a case involving comparable issues of fact and of law.

Added4. Subject to the rules of competence for a decision, where the customs authorities themselves discover within the periods referred to in Article 198(1) that an amount of import or export duty is repayable or remissible pursuant to Articles 194, 196 and 197, they shall repay or remit on their own initiative.

Added5. No repayment or remission shall be granted when the situation which led to the notification of the customs debt results from deception by the debtor.

Added6. Repayment shall not give rise to the payment of interest by the customs authorities concerned, except in the cases referred to paragraph 1, points (a) and (c).

AddedHowever, in those cases repayment shall not give rise to the payment of interest by the customs authorities concerned if the customs authorities repay an amount of import or export duty without undue delay after it has been discovered that the amount is repayable. In case the customs authorities fail to repay that amount without undue delay and the debtor initiates proceedings with the view to obtaining repayment, the interest shall be paid for the period from the date of payment of those duties to the date of their repayment.

AddedIn addition, interest shall be paid where a decision granting repayment is not implemented within three months of the date on which that decision was taken, unless the failure to meet the deadline was outside the control of the customs authorities.

AddedIn such cases, the interest shall be paid from the date of expiry of the three-month period until the date of repayment. The rate of interest shall be established in accordance with Article 190.

Added7. Where the customs authorities have granted repayment or remission in error, the original customs debt shall be reinstated insofar as it is not time-barred under Article 182.

AddedIn such cases, any interest paid under the second subparagraph of paragraph 6 shall be reimbursed.